Danbury football team laying a new foundation with new coach Ecke

Richard Gregory

Updated 10:56 pm, Saturday, June 7, 2014

New Danbury Head Coach Mark Ecke, right, directs his players during Danbury football practice at Danbury High School in Danbury, Conn. Friday, June 6, 2014. The team has a new coach for the 2014 season, now led by Mark Ecke.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

New Danbury Head Coach Mark Ecke directs his players during Danbury football practice at Danbury High School in Danbury, Conn. Friday, June 6, 2014. The team has a new coach for the 2014 season, now led by Mark Ecke.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

New Danbury Head Coach Mark Ecke directs his players during Danbury...

New Danbury Head Coach Mark Ecke directs his players during Danbury football practice at Danbury High School in Danbury, Conn. Friday, June 6, 2014. The team has a new coach for the 2014 season, now led by Mark Ecke.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

New Danbury Head Coach Mark Ecke directs his players during Danbury...

Danbury quarterback Anferny Ith jogs during football practice at Danbury High School in Danbury, Conn. Friday, June 6, 2014. The team has a new coach for the 2014 season, now led by Mark Ecke.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

New Danbury Head Coach Mark Ecke directs the defensive linemen during Danbury football practice at Danbury High School in Danbury, Conn. Friday, June 6, 2014. The team has a new coach for the 2014 season, now led by Mark Ecke.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

Danbury defensive lineman Quentin Falkowski participates in a drill during Danbury football practice at Danbury High School in Danbury, Conn. Friday, June 6, 2014. The team has a new coach for the 2014 season, now led by Mark Ecke.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

New Danbury Head Coach Mark Ecke directs the defensive linemen during Danbury football practice at Danbury High School in Danbury, Conn. Friday, June 6, 2014. The team has a new coach for the 2014 season, now led by Mark Ecke.

New Danbury Head Coach Mark Ecke directs his players during Danbury football practice at Danbury High School in Danbury, Conn. Friday, June 6, 2014. The team has a new coach for the 2014 season, now led by Mark Ecke.
Photo: Tyler Sizemore

DANBURY -- Spring practice has been all about laying the foundation of a winner this year for the Danbury High football team and new head coach Mark Ecke.

Because, as Ecke points out, the foundation of a winning football team can't be set in place in September -- that's too late. No, it needs to be set in the spring, then built upon over the summer with off-season training and weight-lifting.

"The kids need to understand that it's a year-round program," Ecke said prior to Friday's practice, the Hatters' first day in full pads this spring. "To compete in the FCIAC, or to compete in any good league in the state, it's a major commitment. You can't just show up on Labor Day and say, `Alright, I'm here to play football' and then hang around until Thanksgiving. Those days are long gone. We've got to do a better job in the weight room, and that's just the beginning. We've got to find a way to get the kids to camp, and we've got to get the kids thinking about football even when it's not football season. I know there are a lot of multi-sport athletes, ad I think that's a great thing, but the kids who aren't involved in other sports, they have to be lifting and they have to be thinking bout football."

Ecke takes over for Dan Donovan, who stepped down in January after five years at the helm. Donovan's Hatters posted a 15-36 record in those five years, their best season coming in 2011, when they went 5-5.

Ecke has been tabbed as the guy who can turn the Hatters around. He certainly has a proven track record. In Ecke's 24 years at Cheshire High -- seven as an assistant and 17 as the head coach -- the Rams went to the state championship game nine times and won seven titles. After leaving Cheshire in the spring of 2012, Ecke went on to spend two seasons as an assistant coach at Trinity College.

A coach with those kinds of credentials is bound to create a buzz, and that's exactly what is happening on Clapboard Ridge this spring.

"I always look forward to spring football," quarterback Anferny Ith said. "It's always fun, coming out with your friends and perfecting the playbook that you already have. With a new coach, it's just a complete challenge for us."

What Ecke and his staff will be trying to accomplish this spring is to familiarize the kids with the way they will be practicing in the fall. His aim is to maximize the time the kids are on the field and not spend a lot of time explaining instructions over and over.

"Basically, the spring is for us to finalize exactly how we're going to practice in the fall," Ith said. "When we finalize our transitions and how we run practice, in the fall, it's going to run a lot smoother."

The Hatters will have another week of practice this spring before venturing out on their own for the summer.

"It's been a good start," Ecke said. "We've got a ton of kids. That's the biggest challenge for us, as coaches. On a roster where we're in the mid-90s, we'll have roughly 70 kids in practice every day, and the problem is trying to get all the kids reps and get the kids taught the way we want them to get taught. But we've got a good group of kids and they're working hard so far."

And that's exactly what Ecke was hoping would happen.

"It's tremendous. There is so much excitement about football right now, and that's a great thing," Ecke said. "We've got a good core of kids who came back from last year. I'm not in school every day, but there must be a buzz about football, because we got a ton of first-year kids, kids who have never put a football helmet on in their lives."